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Historical images courtesy of R.F.
2024 images from Google street view.
Per a 1936 history of Union Township written by Wheeler High School students and teachers:
The Pure Milk station was built in the fall of 1925 by the Midwest Dairyman's Company, but there have been several improvements made in the equipment since then. There have been no decreases in the shipment of milk; rather it has increased gradually from 10,000 pounds daily in 1925 to 36,000 daily in 1936. It is owned by the International Dairy Company and all members that belong are Pure Milk members.[1]I must take their word for the construction date, since I have not been able to find any relevant information in the newspapers I have access to. Indeed, I read through the whole of 1925's Hobart Gazette without finding any mention of what must have been a big event in the village of Deep River. On the other hand, the Porter County Assessor's records have 1950 as the build date. I think that may be a mistake, unless the dairy building burned to the ground and an identical version was built anew in 1950. Possibly that was the date the two back sections were added on; they were not original, as we can see in the second 1936 photo, and as the relevant 1939 aerial photo confirms.
The earliest newspaper article I have found about the dairy dates to January 1931:
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Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.), 24 Jan. 1931.
Pretty exciting event, but I don’t think it made the Gazette.
This article, from later the same year, does establish that the dairy was operating at least as early as January 1930:
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Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.), 13 Apr. 1931.
This photo, also from 1936, was taken in an unknown location.
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Image courtesy of R.F.
We don't know who the smiling man was, either — presumably a truck driver for dairy. This photo has the name "Vina Serafinski" in its file name, but I haven't been able to identify such a person, nor anything about the name Serafinski that would help I.D. this location.
From this photo, dated 1938, I gather that someone was really proud of the dairy building and its pretty landscaping:
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Image courtesy of R.F.
And lastly, a few random articles naming several employees of the International Dairy Co. over the years:
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Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), 12 Dec. 1930.
Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), 27 Jan. 1941.
Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), 21 Feb. 1967.
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[1] From the "Industrial Development" section of WHEELER HIGH'S WINNING HISTORY OF UNION TOWNSHIP As Compiled By History Class and Instructors For The Vidette-Messenger, printed in the Porter County Centennial, 1836-1936, Special Edition, 18 Aug. 1936, as transcribed at https://www.inportercounty.org/Data/PorterCountyCentennial/Sec3-4-6_UnionTwpHistory.html.
